November 2008 Society of Invasive Cardiovascular Professionals (SICP) News

SICP News Renew for 2009 today at www.sicp.com. Please make every effort to renew your membership prior to January 31, 2009. Remember, your membership is based on a calendar year! If you have questions regarding your membership, please email SICP HQ at membership@sicp.com. Are you a Fellow? Have we heard from you lately? SICP wants the Fellow members to get involved. Please contact SICP to see how you can participate in local, state and national events. For more information, contact SICP HQ at director@sicp.com. Call for Volunteers: There are several committees in need of volunteers! We have many projects in the works and not enough hands to help. If you are interested in serving on the Standards Committee, Membership Committee, Advocacy Committee, Chapter Development or Education Committee, please let us know. The plan of work for each committee is ready to go; we need help implementing and also ideas for future projects. Committee involvement is a great way to become more involved in your professional society, and is also a key opportunity to assume a leadership position. If you are ambitious and eager to promote your profession, get involved today! Please email your commitment and committee preference to SICP Staff Assistant, Tracy Pratt, membership@sicp.com. __________________________ Ask the SICP! By Kenneth A. Gorski, RN, RCIS, FSICP Chairman, SICP Professional Standards Committee Does the SICP have a set of standards, recommended practices, and guidelines related to principles of aseptic technique and handling of sterile areas/items? For cardiac catheterizations, a sterile field is to be maintained for the procedure table and around the insertion site. However, for a variety of imaging angles, it is a requirement to reposition the patient’s arms (i.e., lifting the arms above the head for lateral views). For this reason, many institutions regard cath labs as “clean procedure areas,” not a sterile OR environment. The Society of Invasive Cardiovascular Professionals (SICP), formed with encouragement from The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), a physician group originally founded by Mason Sones, Melvin Judkins and Andreas Gruentzig. The SCAI has published infection control standards, which were most recently updated in 2006. The SICP has not drafted their own policy/position statement on this subject. We currently recommend following the SCAI guidelines. The SCAI can be found at https://www.scai.org, and a direct link to their guidelines is available at https://www.scai.org/PDF/ID%20guidelines.pdf. We would also recommend a recent article in the June 2008 Cath Lab Digest entitled “Is Sterile Technique Vital in the Cath Lab?” (https://www.cathlabdigest.com/article/8816), authored by Alnettia W. Johnson, RCIS, from the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Alnettia is an employee who works for Dennis Chadwick, who is a member of the SICP Standards Committee.

NULL